"Graphics is not a Graphics primitive or directive." when returning an `Import`ed image for `VertexShapeFunction`

Question

I am trying to use Graph (not GraphPlot) and replace some of the vertices with an image, like so:

Graph[
 graph,
 EdgeWeight -> edges,
 EdgeLabels -> "EdgeWeight",
 VertexLabels -> "Name",
 VertexShapeFunction -> {_?(KeyExistsQ[sprites, #] &) -> 
    SpriteVertexFunction}
 ]

I define SpriteVertexFunctions without really using any of the callback parameters:

SpriteVertexFunction[{xc_, yc_}, name_, {w_, h_}] := sprites[name];

And sprites is an Association of numbers to imported images, which I've tried Rasterizeing too:

The error I'm getting is

Graphics is not a Graphics primitive or directive.

Can Graph not draw verticies with arbitrary images? Do I have to use GraphPlot instead?

Answer 1

You could use Property, e.g.

sims = MapIndexed[Property[#2[[1]], VertexShape -> #1] &, simpsons]
g = {1 -> 2, 2 -> 4, 2 -> 5, 2 -> 6, 3 -> 4, 3 -> 5, 3 -> 6};
Graph[sims, g, VertexSize -> 0.6]

I am posting image of code to see effect: